Little Round Things Caprese by @MaddieDayAuthor #giveaway

MADDIE DAY here. My little backyard garden is overflowing with gold cherry tomatoes (Sun Gold variety). The basil is having a banner year, too. To celebrate, I'll send one commenter a copy of my newest book, Murder at a Cape Bookstore.

My work is super busy leading up to leaving on Tuesday for the Bouchercon convention in San Diego, and I was going to a potluck meeting of local writers last night. I don't make a practice of buying food to bring to a potluck supper, so what should I make to bring?

When I saw little mozzarella balls at the farm store, I thought a salad of little round things would be fun, pretty, and delicious. Imagine my delight when I learned the little cheese balls are called ciliegine, which means cherry tomatoes! 

My further delight came from realizing that this is just a different form of the classic Caprese salad - slices of full-sized ripe tomato and mozzarella garnished with whole basil leaves in stacks dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Rainer Zenz, CC BY-SA 3.0

You obviously can make my version of the salad with un-round chunks of tomatoes. I also decided to add little cubes of homegrown cucumber for some crunch, even though they aren't round. The salad would also be great with feta cheese instead of the mozzarella balls. The most important thing is fresh, ripe ingredients, preferably locally grown.

Little Round Things Caprese

Ingredients

Four cups gold cherry tomatoes

8 ounces ciliegine, drained

About 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves

1 small cucumber, diced (peeled if desired)

3 tablespoons good olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Directions

Halve tomatoes and mozzarella balls. 

Hold basil leaves in a stack and sliver with scissors (this method works better than using a knife).

Combine all ingredients and toss. 

Serve with crusty bread for a complete light meal, or enjoy as a side salad with grilled chicken or fish.

Readers: How do you like to eat tomatoes or basil? Are you a fan of conventional Caprese? I'll send one lucky commenter a signed copy of the newest Cozy Capers Book Group mystery, so leave your email address.

🍅🍅🍅

My next books will be "Murderous Mittens" in Christmas Mittens Murder and Murder Uncorked, both featuring my new wine bar manager Cece Barton.

Check out all my writing!

We hope you'll visit Maddie and her Agatha Award-winning alter ego Edith Maxwell on our web site, sign up for our monthly newsletter, visit us on social media, and check our all our books and short stories.

Maddie Day (aka Edith Maxwell) is a talented amateur chef and holds a PhD in Linguistics from Indiana University. An Agatha Award-winning and bestselling author, she is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America and also writes award-winning short crime fiction. She lives with her beau and sweet cat Martin north of Boston, where she’s currently working on her next mystery when she isn’t cooking up something delectable in the kitchen

Baked Cod with Cherry Tomatoes #recipe @LucyBurdette

 LUCY BURDETTE: Wow, this is a busy plate of dinner--I don't think I'd make it into a glamorous food magazine. But the garden was overflowing with fall veggies, and we had to use them! (You'll recognize the peach and cucumber salad, which we love...)

We don't usually eat a ton of fish, but I spotted this easy recipe on the blog FeastingatHome.com and I knew a version of it was for me. Our best garden crop this year was little Sungold cherry tomatoes—sweet and pretty. (I use the word “our” lightly, as my hub John did most of the work this summer while I was writing.) The good thing is that cherry tomatoes are usually available in the grocery store year-round, so you can fix this bright, summery-looking meal even in the dead of winter. And it’s fast and it looks pretty! This makes dinner for two people…

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup sungold cherry or other small tomatoes

½ lb cod fillet, cut into two pieces

salt, pepper and smoked paprika to taste

1 lemon

1 large garlic clove

about 8 basil leaves

1 tablespoon capers

Heat the oven to 400.

Chop the garlic into largish pieces. Slice the lemon. Wash the tomatoes. Sliver the basil. Rinse the fish and pat it dry.

Pour the olive oil into an 8 by 8 glass dish. Add the tomatoes, lemon, and garlic and push this all around until the pieces are nicely oiled. Move the vegetables to the sides of the pan and add the cod pieces. Season the fish with fresh pepper, a sprinkle of salt, and smoked paprika.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the fish is done to your liking—we like it white and easily flakable, so I left it in for 18 minutes.

Lucy Burdette writes the Key West food critic mystery series, featuring fiesty food critic Hayley Snow. Number 9, A DEADLY FEAST, is in stores and online everywhere. THE KEY LIME CRIME will be published next summer. 

PS the pre-order link with the new cover for The Key Lime Crime is not up yet, but I will alert you when it is. Meanwhile, A DEADLY FEAST will be out in Mass market paperback on June 9 and you can order that now: Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Indiebound...

"Hayley and Nathan make an appealing pair, and the food descriptions and Key West atmosphere are equally enticing—a sure bet to draw readers of foodie mysteries."

—Booklist

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